Hello, Skyfarers! An update, in which we discuss the EXPLORATION release and the ever-closer reveal of ALBION! This release pulls in a lot of the work we’ve been talking about from recent sprints (TEKTITE and VEGA):
Discoveries and spectacles are now available! Scavenge from wrecks, harvest hives, investigate (or eat) fungal fragments, mine sky rocks for undiscovered hours, scour flotsam and jetsam for random treasures, and carry Curators' Eggs to port before they can hatch. At the edge of Old Tom's Well, you can discover the Pitchkirk and its bitter sect. Those who can prove they have been aggrieved may even be allowed to take part in their services and enact their well-rite: the Rite of Wrongs (which will modify your captain's skills). You’ll notice a lot of fun (“fun”) changes to Terror: new visual and audio effects and terror music made by Maribeth that will make the atmosphere more and more tense and unbearable.
Fog and locomotive headlights will work together to add atmosphere to your journey, help you target enemies during combat and make it easier to discern which elements on screen are possible to crash into. Docking will be automatic. You’ll be able to tell how many sovereigns you have more easily. The next release, coming at the end of February, will cover MOVEMENT AND COMBAT, including work based on your feedback. With exceeding joy, we can confirm the release after will be ALBION. A whole additional region, with its own look, feel and surprises. If you’ll permit us some over-excitement, it’s time to get on board the SPACE HYPE TRAIN.
It almost goes without saying, but releasing an additional region into the game will immediately make the play experience something much more like the final game; in all likelihood it will be the biggest appreciable change to the game during Early Access for you as players. We are intensely nervous and excited to reveal it to you.
Our next FBG Podcast has been moved to Tuesday 6 February at 4:00pm GMT so that we can take a moment to celebrate Sunless Sea’s third birthday. So bring your captain’s logs and memories to share! We’d also love to show off Sunless Sea fanart, so leave us a link here or tweet to @failbettergames and we’ll cover as much as we can! As ever, we’re taking your feedback on the Steam, GOG and Failbetter forums. We can’t wait to hear what you make of these changes! AND - hooray - you can come and meet the team to chat about Sunless Skies at EGX Rezzed! We’ll be there from the 13th to the 15th of April and we’re excited to see you. Your friends, Failbetter Games

• Travel between distant ports, unravelling stories, bearing passengers and news, and trading in exotic celestial cargoes.
  
  
• Your every foray into space is as precarious as a Polar expedition. You’ll need to balance your resources carefully and keep an eye on your crew’s Terror to avoid mutiny and death.
  
  
• Your captain's actions could tip the precarious political balance of a region. Will you run guns for the Independents? Or spies for the Empire? Choose wisely – your decisions will affect the story; not just for yourself, but for your future captains as well.
  
  
• Leave your mark on the universe, and be marked in return. When you are creating your captain, every decision is a story, and every story has a consequence.
  
  
• Equip your vessel as you see fit. Would you benefit more from reinforced armour plating, or the additional manpower allowed by external crew pods? ("Soundproof! Cosy! Detachable!")
  
  
• It is not safe in the skies. A captain will need to defend themselves against pirates, scorn-flukes, the Cyst of Faces, and worse.
  
  
• Recruit a gallery of unpredictable characters to crew your locomotive as First Officer, Chief Engineer, Signaller, or Surgeon. Each brings their own skills and stories to your adventures.

• OS: Ubuntu 12.04+. SteamOS+
• Processor: Intel Pentium 2Ghz or AMD equivalentMemory: 4 GB RAMStorage: 4500 MB available spaceSound Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible
• Memory: 4 GB RAMStorage: 4500 MB available spaceSound Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible
• Storage: 4500 MB available space